CORNBURY PARK

So you have kids and then you pack away your tent, your lucky festival shorts and your predilection for drunken bean burgers, right? WRONG!

While three kids have eroded my chances (and desire, frankly) to battle the roads to Glastonbury and listen to naive kids talking about society around a campfire, I’m starting to crave the festival feeling.

That constant hum of competing beats in the air, the childish excitement of waking up under canvas, vegetarian food coming out of the wazoo (I’m not vegetarian anymore because I live with carnivorous bloodsuckersbut when in Rome…) and oodles and oodles of live bands.

And so I’m very much looking forward to Wilderness Festival in the beautiful Cornbury Estate Deer Park near the Cotswold village of Charlbury – and for the first time ever, I’ll be taking two of my kids with me (and my husband). That’s a 31-year-old, a nine-year-old and, gulp, a three-year-old.

From the music, to the boutique camping to the – scream! – Wilderness Spa, to the kids’ activities, everything about this is set up for grown-ups and their progeny.

So much thought has gone into what festival-going families look for, and a weekend in a tent with the kids is starting to sound decidedly – surprisingly – peaceful and relaxing.

Our must-sees on the music programme include Mercury Rev, Daniel Johnston, the Guillemots and Anthony and the Johnsons, but to lighten the mood, SHOUT (the rhythym and blues choir) sounds incredible too.

To further set outs its stall as the festival of choice for grown-ups, there is also a programme of speakers and debates, including Tom Hodgkinson from the Idler (hero) and Ian Goldin, the Director of Oxford University’s James Martin 21st Century School who is exploring The Future Fantastic or Frightening? I know, I’m a nerdberger but I love this stuff.

For the kids, there is a whole programme of distraction workshops and activities, and even a boutique babysitting service so that parents can escape to listen to aforementioned music and debate. There are three gastronomic banquets (THREE) each hosted by top chefs and including fine wine and cocktails (£27 per head) and even a flipping opera performance on the theatre programme. Puking in a beer bin at Reading Rock this ain’t.

And I’m so flaming excited!

Wilderness Festival, Cornbury Park, 12 – 14 August, 2011

Single day tickets from £27.50, weekend tickets from £49.50.

See www.wildernessfestival.com for more information and booking.

I almost tire of writing this, because I seem to involuntarily plaster the sentiment everywhere, but: I love Standon Calling. I remain unduly astounded that the place has a fucking swimming pool and hosts a festival-wide fancy dress party of the sort where you feel stupid if you’re not wearing a ridiculously outlandish costume. It almost doesn’t need bands, but check out some of these beauties which they done booked all the same:

Spiritualized
It’s been a pretty long time since Jason Pierce dropped his seminal ‘Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space’, and there’s a wispy misconception that he’s somewhat come off the boil in the meantime. Standon Calling know as well as I do that this is not the case. His most recent album ‘Songs in A&E’ contained slabs of dreamy, scuzzy shoegaze as good as anything he’s ever come out with, and – most importantly of all – his live show remains frankly transcendental. Flanked with gospel singers and powered by layers of murky guitar, Spiritualized are sure to provide an uplifting, engrossing and cinematic climax to a day at Standon Calling.

Battles
With the departure of Tyondai Braxton during the recording of Battles’ sophomore album, many fans needlessly worried that he’d take the band’s fiercely creative spark with him. There was no need to panic, of course, as ‘Gloss Drop’ proved itself to be as fully formed and outlandishly inventive as their debut, albeit in a slightly different way. Battles muscular and manic instrumentals explode into life on the stage, and seeing them at such an exciting, transitional period such as this is an opportunity which shouldn’t be squandered. Continually pushing the envelope and propelling themselves to do more and more with just three musicians, Battles could well turn out to be the weekend’s most dazzling high point.

Saul Williams
For me, Saul Williams gets a free pass for life just for penning the unstoppable List of Demands, but that’s not to say that there’s not way more to recommend him than that single powerhouse of a number. Quietly putting out solid record after solid record, Saul’s newest album is a typically excellent affair, combining smart rhymes and dark beats. As a live act, he performs with a humility all too often absent within hip-hop artists; drawing people into his incredible spoken word with a sense of urgency and powerful dynamic. A true poet, and a frequent hip-shaker to boot – a must see for the weekend.

Sound Of Rum
Operating in a similar vein to Williams, spoken word artist Kate Tempest fronts the fantastic three piece outfit Sound Of Rum. A long time friend of Standon Calling, Sound of Rum combine live beats and guitar lines with Kate’s incredible flow to create an invigorating musical performance combined with engaging narrative and rhymes. Having finally released their debut album earlier this year, Sound Of Rum remain a criminally overlooked but nevertheless well loved – and well respected – act, well worthy of your attention.

Hypnotic Brass Ensemble
If the fact that Hypnotic Brass Ensemble have been publicly acknowledged by Barrack Obama as being his favourite band isn’t enough to make you want to catch their set, then a cursory YouTube search of their live performances should do the trick. Comprised of eight brothers from Chicago (as in the colloquial slang for African Americans, as well as the literal biological relationship) Hypnotic Brass Ensemble are exactly what it says on the tin: an absolutely enveloping groove of powerful brass instrumentals, conflating blues, jazz, soul and energetic rhythm.

Standon Calling takes place in (duh) Standon, which is just north of London in Hertfordshire, on the 12th-14th August.

Basement Jaxx are pleased to announce the release of a new orchestral project that sees them like they’ve never been seen before. In collaboration with the Netherlands’ Metropole Orkest and renowned London conductor and arranger, Jules Buckley, this orchestral project features a full sixty piece orchestra along with a twenty voice choir and sees the Metropole Orkest perform classical and contemporary orchestral versions of the legendary Basement Jaxx back catalogue.

Highlights include instrumental reinterpretations of the Jaxx breakthrough tune, “Red Alert” and 2009’s “Raindrops”, a waltz version of “Bingo Bango”, the Balkan stomper “Hey U” & the haunting ballad “Lights Go Down”, sung by long time Jaxx collaborator, Sharlene Hector.

Produced and orchestrated over the last year by Jules Buckley and Basement Jaxxs’ Felix Buxton and featuring many of the singers from their legendary live shows (including LA’s finest, Lisa Kekaula, on “Good Luck”) the album will also include an original piece, written by Felix, especially for this orchestral project.

The combination of the Metropole Orkest’s cutting edge approach to orchestral interpretation, Basement Jaxx’s uniquely skewed take on dance music and Jules Buckley’s innovative conducting and arranging results in a remarkable soundclash – Basement Jaxx as you’ve never heard them before. (Who’d have imagined hearing a baroque harpsichord playing “Where’s Your Head At” ?)

Below is a short clip of the event – something that I’ve never quite seen before, but want to see a lot more of!

The album is available on release as CD & Digital Download on July 11 2011. You can catch the live show at the Barbican in London on the 14th & 15th July 2011.

The Mercury Music Prize has gained notoriety for showcasing some of the best music in the UK from established players to up and coming acts. Its impressive roaster boasts the likes of Frankie & The Heartstrings, Everything Everything, James Blake, The XX, Wild Beasts, Florence and the Machine… I could continue endlessly. Last Wednesday at The Hospital Club in Covent Garden, we were offered both sides of the coin; the BBC’s Sound of 2011 Jamie Woon and Super Furry Animal’s frontman Gruff Rhys.

After being lead down to the recording studio where we were confronted with an impressive collection of recording equipment – the set was being filmed for a Channel 4 slot in the autumn – and getting our fill of free Stella Artois, it began. Woon was the first to go. Walking on stage to a rapturous applause from us that knew him, Woon wooed us with his instantaneously endearing stage presence; destined for a later witty rapport, he began by thanking us all for being there, showing gratitude for the opportunity.

He opened with the first track of his new album Mirrorwriting, titled ‘Night Air’. Supposed as a dark, sweet and seductive ballad boasting an irresistibly understated combination of Woon’s pliable voice and compulsive beats and atmosphere, the performance disappointingly struggled to collaborate the elements; the bass throbbed in your head as the drums tittered separately, Woon’s lymphatic voice lost adrift.

For a while, Woon followed this thread; a frustrating anti-climax to tracks that have chasms of heart and soul. They seemed empty and hollow; Woon and his seductive voice lost amongst the fumbled and fractured elements. Thankfully, however, the set was not destined to doom. Gaining momentum and confidence, his performance of ‘Lady Luck’, the 3rd track on the new album, was paradisiacal. The pop beat gave the rhombic underbelly it should of offered earlier, demonstrating Woon’s true ability.

The set latested just over an hour, and this evidently helped. Woon was given the capacity to relax into his stride, and what followed was a set of skilled and accomplished performances, brimming with the human emotion that is cornerstone to his new album. ‘Spirits’ was restarted three times, demonstrating Woon’s perfectionist character and professional pride.

By the end, my skin was tingling as ‘Gravity’, the last but one track on the debut Mirrorwriting album, was sung with a passion pulled from the depths of Woon’s soul. The ballad saw him at his finest all evening: the elements fell together, the sky full with atmosphere. Although Woon’s vocals seduced us, I found myself willing him to push a step further, so I could fly off with him. Instead he teased, never falling into full vocal flow. Regardless, he left us with the best performance of the night, and in love with his boy next-door demur.

After a short interval and a 20 minutes loo queue, we were back, this time with Super Furry Animal’s frontman Gruff Rhys. Pushing my way to the front (the room appeared to double in capacity), I found myself behind the compulsory in-love-with-the-frontman drunk girl, who throughout the set screamed her love for Rhys, teetering close to collision with the cameras. The host introduced his ‘personal favourite’, and on popped Rhys, with a band that seemed to comprise of a talented set of bobble hat enthusiasts.

Opening with the Welsh lyric song ‘Gyrru Gyrru Gyrru’, Rhys played the audience like putty in his hands; at his beck and call we hopped to the beat, the girl screaming louder than before. After moving about the stage and tinkering with numerous different instruments, Rhys placed himself centre stage, ready to play ‘Honey All Over’. Here, kneeling on the floor at his keyboard, he sung to us about the sweetness of his sweet. Fluid and full, he left us wanting more.

The highlight of the evening came with what he introduced as a Country and Western song, although I ached to disagree as it sounded more indie on speed. Out came the funkiest indie guitar I’ve seen yet, and so began ‘A House of Mirrors’. What a performance. Ladies and gentlemen, here is a true born performer. Everyone got caught up singing in the chorus, whether they knew the words or not.

Rhys finished alone on stage; just him, his woolly hat and keyboard. Choosing the last song ‘Rubble Rubble’ from his latest album Hotel Shampoo, Rhys feared playing on camera an unrecognisable song to an uninterested audience. To solve the problem, he told us about it. Feeding us the first line, he asked cheekily if we could give rigorous applause when he started to sing it, and so we did. I mentioned putty in hands, didn’t I? The audience ate it up a treat, and we loved him for it.

The maturity of Rhys’ set to Woon’s was unequivocal; undoubtedly the years of experience have taught Rhys well. Each track was fully formed; a hit after hit. However having said that, Woon is onto something; his sweet and seductive sound is something that will see him transgress the niche to mass market, but all he needs now is perhaps a little while longer in the oven.

oOoOO// TEEBS// DIMLITE// BRETON// JEREMIAH JAE// BECOMING REAL// D/R/U/G/S// ANXST

Any of these names ringing any bells? Getting hot under the collar thinking about them all under the same roof? Well, you should be. Friday night (25th March 2011) is promising to be one of the biggest nights in North London, where THE PLAYGROUND vs. SUPERSUPER is set to curate a clash between Witch-House / Drag and Electronic Hip-Hop.

Held at Electrowerkz, a hip and trendy warehouse location in Angel that offers over 3 floors of cheap drinks, great tunes and friendly staff, the evening boasts a crossroads where commercially viable hip-hop gravitates towards left-field influences from 8pm to 4am. Below is a little more info on each line up. Even if you’ve already planned your Friday night, there’s no excuse for missing out.

oOoOO

Remaining one of the frontrunners of witch-house/ drag or screwgaze, oOoOO’s Christopher Dexter Greenspan is known for spectral utterances from beyond the rave, where dance-pop’s past is slowly dragged up and conflated into ghostly apparitions of old dance tunes and 90’s hip hop, all at half the pace.

TEEBS

Teebs (aka Mtendere Mandowa) has generated his reputation by piecing together everyday sounds in order to create a flamboyant yet delicate palette of flickering beauty that leaves you with an unconstrained, opulent presence that’s greater than the sum of its parts.

DIMLITE

After a string of pioneering releases on Germany’s Sonar Kollectiv label, Dimitri Grimm’s Dimlite had proved to be one of electronic music’s burgeoning talents. With his unique compilation of Free Jazz, Progressive & Kraut-Rock genres which are synthesized to produce a wide-eyed and progressive musical expression which proves to be rich and captivating, enticing any listener.

JEREMIAH JAE

Chicago-based Experimental Producer, Rapper, Visual Artist, and Multi-instrumentalist, Jeremiah Jae has fast made a name for himself, experimenting with elements of Hip-Hop, Punk Rock, Electro, and World Music and creating his own brand of abstract trance-hop which has lead to becoming the latest edition to Flying Lotus’s BRAINFEEDER Label.

BECOMING REAL

Forging his own ravaged and warped take on the original underground genre, Toby Ridler’s Becoming Real evokes a sense of post-apocalyptic nuance through his grime-synth stylings which have been self-described as ‘Music for seas drowned in oil, tar-coated forest landscapes, and a prophesised world of underwater clubs and haunted dancefloors’.

BRETON

Breton is known for his ability to create wholly individual songs, with an end result of a constantly evolving sonic assault by absorbing all and mixing it up to produce imposing, razor sharp electronics, creating a Post-Punk and Art-Rock that sounds like nothing else.

D/R/U/G/S

Drawing influence from House, Hip-Hop and Ambient sound, Manchester based duo Callum Wright and George Haydock endeavour to create their own style of euphoric trance-dance; somewhat reminiscent of Orbital and radiating with a glittering yet dark, ambient sound.

ANXST

It was a small town mundanity and endless sparse countryside which lead to Anxst’s genre transcending dexterity and takes in the experimental Dubstep trip of Vex’d, Industrial Techno of Surgeon, the future glitch of Flying Lotus and the scattered experimental drum and bass of Amon Tobin which results in the vast textured styling of this talented artist.

The Playground vs. Supersuper will be at Electrowerkz in Angel (7 Torrens Street, London, EC1V 1NQ) on Friday 25th March. Door 8pm. Click here for more info.

The xx - xx

As Paul The Octopus isn’t returning our calls we’ll have to make do with our own physic cephalopod, Mitchell Stirling as he casts his tentacles over the elite 12 British and N. Irish records that might be receiving nods next week.

Last year I, like most people felt that Doves winning would be to similar to the Elbow win the previous year but didn’t think that would prevent them getting a nod (nor did the bookies, they were favourites). Similarly we all thought that Portishead’s Third was a lock the year before and it didn’t make it. This year we can’t even find odds before the nominations but you can pick up a vibe on a few releases.

The XX – XX: We’d would be frankly astounded if this doesn’t get nominated, it was already being talked about as a potential winner around the time of last year’s ceremony. WE fully expect it to go in as favourite once the nominations are announced as well based on the acclaim it received at the end of the year that wasn’t restricted to the UK indie press, it was lauded by the broadsheets, the older music press and even the likes of FACT, The Wire and Mixmag. We haven’t seen a reaction to a British record like that since Dummy a former Mercury Prize winner. The one to beat we feel.

Wild Beasts – Two Dancers: Discussed in similar terms last autumn as a potential winner when summer rolled round. It has also been applauded thoroughly for the delight it takes in it’s own outsider status from the striking imagery to the arresting melodies. We don’t think it has enough momentum behind it with its September release in the way The XX have though.

Laura Marling – I Speak Because I Can: We’ve rhapsodised a fair bit about Miss Marling on this site and to anyone that will listen. It seems critical and public consensus is catching up with me and she’ll likely add the nomination of her first album in 2008 with this one. We also fully expect it to be among the favourites when the odds are drawn up.

Marina and the Diamonds – The Family Jewels and Ellie Goulding – Lights: We’re almost flipping a coin on this one. The top two of the BBC’s Sound of…  poll at the start of the year and in the previous two years the women at the top of that list have had a 50% strike rate with Duffy and Little Boots not making the cut, La Roux and Adele did. We think a similar thing is going to happen this time and although neither album really set my pulses racing we’ll go with Marina for having slightly more of the star quality. Bank on at least one of them to make it though.

Delphic – Acolyte: With the slightly more leftfield guitar-indie of The XX and Wild Beasts it’s hard to think of a typical Conor NME indie type album that might make it so we’ll plump for Delphic on account of the high amounts of tips at the start of the year and the goodwill they still have from their incredible early singles.

Plan B – The Defamation of Strickland Banks: It was a surprise at the time that his ‘British Eminem’ debut didn’t attract the attentions of the judges who went with Sway’s This Is My Demo and likely couldn’t find room for both on the list. The change to an easier on the Radio 2 listener’s ears singing style and lack of calling everyone listening a c**t probably puts him in a good position to land on the list.

Others that could make it.

Like last year we’ll throw in albums we’d like to see on the list first. These New Puritans‘  Hidden would be high up on my nomination sheet, a step up from their debut as impressive as that of The Horrors last year. We are also a big fan of Race Horses‘ Goodbye Falkenburg but fear that if SFA can’t get on the last two lists it’s unlikely another Welsh band that has followed them can. (we’re sure Jude Rogers will try though!) If we’re following the saga of the release of Fanfarlo‘s Reservoir correctly, it should be eligible this year if entered but who knows on that one.

We’d love to see Field Music‘s third album on there but with the panel choosing not to include the excellent Tones of Town or The Week That Was, we’re not convinced that they’ll be sitting through a double album too often from their listening pile. Their loss, we know. We also would have loved to have seen Twilight Sad, Frightened Rabbit and Mystery Jets make the line-up in 2008 though we think they all suffered in what was a very strong year for the prize. Their most recent albums are all in with a shout of making it but we feel that they aren’t as strong as previous efforts. The Big Pink‘s debut seems a very long time ago now but Glasvegas managed to make the list after a long gap last time out. We’re 50:50 on A Brief History of Love doing likewise. We also can’t see Alex Turner making it four from four with Arctic Monkeys‘ Humbug certainly not a bad album by any standard but it’s autumn release handicaps it more than any perceived dip in quality we feel. A couple of albums that could make it on both strength and previous efforts feeling hard-done-by are Foals‘ Total Life Forever and Los Campesinos! with Romance is Boring.

With a presumed nod for Laura Marling we think, despite the wealth of talent in the indie folk box there’s probably only room for one more nomination; it would likely be Mumford and Sons. A band that have had stratospheric rise in the past 12 months with a feverent fan-base that clearly adores them and their intense live show as well as lashings of Radio 1 play their have the wind in their sails despite a large amount of sniping at them. This probably means no place for Noah & the Whale‘s The First Days of Spring or Peggy Sue‘s Fossils and Other Phantoms as there surely wouldn’t be a third album from that corner of the world. Previous nominees The Unthanks and newcomers Stornoway and Goldheart Assembly are more on the Radio 2/Uncut end of the folk spectrum so they could usurp Mumford and Sons or join them in a heavily folky list.

Moving away from guitars there’s every chance that Hot Chip‘s recent effort One Life Stand, a more complete effort than Made In The Dark could be nominated like 2006′s The Warning was. We also think that if Four Tet are ever going to get a nomination than this is year with There Is Love in You, one of the best received albums of the year. In a similar vein Fuck Buttons, Scuba, James Yuill and Broadcast and The Focus Group may feel in with a shout.

Typically there’s a Irish nomination just to remind everyone that Irish acts are eligible prime suspect this year is likely to be the joyful but lightweight indie pop of Two Door Cinema Club or Dublin’s Villagers. Former nominees Polar Bear, Dizzee Rascal, Portico Quartet, Maps, Fyfe Dangerfield, Jamie T and Richard Hawley all have perfectly serviceable albums that could make it. Muse’s last album was terrible but that doesn’t stop the panel from including one record a year to really annoy us. A much better home-grown stadium rock effort would be Biffy Clyro who surely deserve a look-in for persistence alone.

There are a few acts that’ve never been on the list that might make a debut Steve Mason’s Beta Band never made the cut. Nor, surprisingly did Grammy and BRIT nominee Corinne Bailey Rae with her debut. We think she may well atone for that oversight. Paul Weller has his best album since 1993 nomination for Wild Wood but we don’t think he’s the kind of act they’d want to nominate still. What price a nomination for Teenage Fanclub or The Fall after all these years? (We can’t see them wanting Mark E. Smith gurning at Lauren Laverne in September to be honest.)

We have also mulled records by The Cribs, North Atlantic Oscillation, Archie Bronson Outfit, Rox, Bombay Bicycle Club, New Young Pony Club, Massive Attack, Lonelady, Pulled Apart By Horses, Tunng, Kate Nash, The Chemical Brothers and Blood Red Shoes and could only see NYPC or Lonelady sneaking on to the list but we’re not going to tip them.

We wanted to mention Slow Club as a nominee we’d like to see but Charles and Rebecca’s wonderful debut falls outside of the dates for being on this year’s list after looking it up. Anyone who is suggesting Gorrilaz will be nominated may want to do their homework on the band’s previous nomination though!

Our final predictions: The XX, Wild Beasts, Laura Marling, Marina and The Diamonds, Plan B, Delphic, Four Tet, Foals, Biffy Clyro, Mumford and Sons, Empirical and Villagers.

Half a dozen more to cover our tracks: Scuba, Ellie Goulding, The Fall, Corrine Bailey Rae, Hot Chip and These New Puritans.

How accurate will we be?

In the last week, after going to my first ever Glastonbury festival, I have found myself questioning if I will enjoy Reading Festival in August, or any other festival in the future come to that.

Having been to festivals for the last seven years I thought I had seen it all, heard it all, done it all, but maybe more importantly knew exactly what to expect, but no festival experience could prepare me for the five nights spent in a field in a farm in Pilton. Now that I have sampled a five-star festival I am not sure that any other festival can compare.

Before Glastonbury my favourite festival had always been Reading, for a few reasons this has always been great, but for quite a few more reasons it has had its draw backs.

Let’s concentrate for the purposes of this article on the awesomeness that is Glastonbury Festival.

Firstly, has to be the line-up, it’s a festival that every artist has heard of, a friend of mine who is in a band said to me “I will know I have made it, when I get to headline the Pyramid stage”. For the 40th anniversary we were all promised a killer line-up, and Gorillaz replacing U2 was met with very mixed opinions. I was on the fence on that one, and went to see the Gorillaz on the pretence that they had planned something extra special. In my opinion, it wasn’t all that. The rest, though, was epic.

The festival kicked off with Rolf Harris, a legend. Whether, like me, you know him from childhood as the guy that taught you to draw cartoon versions of himself on the body of a kangaroo during Cartoon Club, or because your grandparents played his vinyl’s on their ancient record players, or because you are of a younger generation and know him from his Jekyll and Hyde performances on Animal Hospital. Either way, it was a great start to a festival, and in his words: “a highlight of my entertaining career”

Then you had performances from Snoop Dog at his very first Glastonbury. Making the crowd “jump around” in 30c heat is no mean feat. Secret performances from Radiohead, the regular festival circuit band Vampire Weekend, and Julian Casablancas performing Strokes material without the rest of the Strokes.

Mumford & Sons and Bombay Bicycle Club, who between them seemed to pull in the biggest John Peel tent audiences of the weekend.

Then Stevie Wonder, singing Happy Birthday with Michael Eavis on stage, to bring it all to an end. Love it or loathe it, it was a fitting and emotional end to a festival. Even if it did look like embarrassing car crash TV when I watched it back last night, you will have to take my word that it was probably a ‘had to be there’ kind of moment.

There were literally hundreds of acts across well over 40 stages. It would be natural to think Glastonbury and music go hand in hand, and stop there, however Glasto is so much more than music.

It is huge, at least ten times bigger than any other festival I have ever been to. And you could be forgiven to thinking that due to its size that it is just field after field divided by hedges and farm gates, but it isn’t. There is something to do, see or hear in almost every square inch of the vast place. Besides the stages and hundreds of food and clothes vendors, you have purpose-built nightclubs made of actual bricks and mortar with NY taxis and underground train carriages sticking out. Quiet places to think and reflect on the days events, hidden relaxation havens, and if you’re into communication during the festival even somewhere to hide from the sun and charge your phone.

There are the craft fields where you can be taught to glaze pots, make plates and spoons or carve from stone, with each themed area transporting you to what could be described as alternate universes decorated with movie set precision. Some of these places are better ventured after dark where a whole different Glastonbury comes to life.

The festival commonly resembles a Turkish mud bath, not this year though. Over the course of the weekend, Glastonbury experienced some of the highest temperatures it has ever had and without a cloud in the sky, the heat and sun were sometimes relentless. Maybe this is a sign of global warming, frankly, I don’t give a shit as I got to leave my wellies in the car, rather than carry them along with all my other crap on what seemed like a two-mile hike from the car park.

The community aspect is something completely different too, everyone is friendly, willing to help, and doesn’t care about another person’s opinion. One such environment was the Twisto group on twitter. I started following these people about two months prior to Glastonbury. Everyone has the same goals, to go and enjoy Glasto, regardless of which acts you plan to see. The buzz of excitement coming off these people leading up to the last few days before glasto was contagious.

Then there’s the camping environment. I think a festival is a lot about the people you go with, and I went with a great bunch of people, naturally friends bring friends whom you don’t know, and in turn, they become your friends. I honestly believe that 50% of my current social circle were originally friends of friends at festivals over the years.

I guess your Glasto camping experience is all down to where you decide to camp. We were in one of the new un-named fields. We arrived and unpacked the car at the hottest point of the day, so almost immediately after wristband exchange, Jms, (our “group co-ordinator)” dropped his bags, and said, “Fuck it, this will do.” Camp Fuck It was born. I must write to Emily Eavis and enquire whether this would be a field name they could pursue in future years…

Owing to one of our people, Kate, being pregnant, it was pre-decided that we would camp somewhere peaceful-ish, within easy access to toilets and medical facilities. The camp we chose fitted the bill perfectly.

At other festivals you see people frequently jumping the fence without having paid for a ticket. At modern Glasto, not one!

At other festivals you see drunk/drugged people kicking off, and frequently see the tell tale signs of someone being evicted due to their behaviour (the swarm of security guards, the revellers bundled into the back of land rovers). At Glasto, just one! And it was a relatively harmless argument to start off with, it was 9am, and he disliked another fella for stealing the numbers to his girlfriend’s postcode. Strange reason to lose your £185 ticket.

My final point about Glastonbury is the traffic to get onto site, and I think it’s my only real negative on the whole glasto experience. How can a festival that has been running for 40 years still suffer traffic chaos? 7am ‘til 2pm to travel the 20-odd miles from the M5 to the site.

Living in close proximity to Silverstone, I am aware of the changes forced upon traffic systems by huge volumes of people for one weekend per calendar year. I am incredibly surprised that more hasn’t been done about it.

Will I do Glasto again? Without a shadow of doubt!

The question at the beginning of this article was, is there life after Glasto?

The answer is still to be determined, but I go back to Reading with incredibly high expectations, knowing full well that, sadly, it probably won’t match up.

Dour festival

ALERT! ALERT! GIVEAWAY PRIZE ALERT! FREEBIES BELOW!

We are giving away five pairs of tickets to Dour, including camping! All you need to do is send your name, your guest’s name, and both of your email addresses to musosguide (at) gmail (dot) com. Easy as. You don’t even have to answer a question! These are the T&Cs from the lovely festival-running people there…

You have until Monday July 4 to enter…

And now you can read the preview…

If the increasingly gentrified and innocuous UK festival scene bores you, and you hanker for something a little more adventurous, you can’t go far wrong with Dour Festival – taking place between July 15 and 18 this year (2010, future readers).

Now maturing into its early 20s, the Dour festival was formally Europe’s best-kept secret, nestled as it within the municipality of Dour, Belgium. However, with this year’s roster of bands such as Faith No More, The Maccabees, Chris Cunningham, Atari Teenage Riot, Los Campesinos!, Fun Lovin’ Criminals, Owen Pallett, Chrome Hoof, New Young Pony Club, De La Soul, Fucked Up, Monotonix and GWAR to name but a meager selection, you’ll be hard pressed to find a festival with a staggeringly vast and varied array of music for the price (Just under £100 including camping or £198 for ticket, camping and ride).

With over 200 bands on six stages over four days, and continuing way into the early hours, toward its climax Dour begins to seem like more of an endurance test, albeit one set in an environment that’s as accommodating as it is relentless. Not so much about going to see the bands you know, but rather stumbling around to happen across some amazing European acts, Dour accommodates for the most esoteric and intrepid music fan.

We’ll see you there.

Anna Calvi

“If you are going to fail, try hard,” we were always told and this short preview of The Great Escape in Brighton lives by that maxim.

Muso’s Guide has listened to demos, live tracks, radio edits, YouTube videos and MySpace streams of over 200 of the acts performing across 30-odd venues in Brighton from Thursday through to the early hours of Sunday, but it’s not enough; there are still nearly 90 that we are fairly clueless about.

But on we soldier: here are a few less well known acts we recommend seeking out by the south coast -

Anna Calvi (Saturday 21.45 @ Revenge)

Calvi is one we’ve been keeping an eye on for a while, especially now Domino have signed them up and had them supporting Arctic Monkeys. The music has been drawing inevitable but fairly accurate PJ Harvey comparisons, more specifically for tracks like ‘Blackout’ which Dev Haynes was championing at – deep breath – light speed in the NME this winter [Ed - CRINGE].

Best Coast (Thursday 21.45 @ Life)

The weather might not reaching summer heights quite yet but it’s already time for the second wave of glo-fi. ‘Something In The Way’ is one of those songs that makes you wonder if another video has started on their MySpace player at the same time, such is its scuzzy charm. Hopefully the sun will come out (not likely at ten at night admittedly) for ‘Sun Was High (So Was I)’.

Dead Wolf Club (Thursday 19.15 @ Volks)

Dead Wolf Club remind us of These New Puritans, which is of course not a bad thing considering their stonking staccato guitar and terse delivery. They do have their heavier moments, like ‘Radar’, as well as the more chiming Byrdsian swirl of songs like ‘Wave’.

Esben and The Witch (‘Sunday’ 00.45 @ Duke of York)

On early-morning Sunday (so really, Saturday night), go and see this local buzz band> It’s a fair trek inland to the venue, and by this stage your feet may be calling for bed, but stick with it as Esben contain shades of Portishead, Björk, Bat For Lashes, Siouxsie and The Banshees, Aphex Twin and swathes of Poe and Brothers Grimm in the lyrics. You might even get to hear their curious take of Kylie’s ‘Confide In Me’ as well as recent single ‘Lucia, at the Precipice’.

Gaggle (Thursday 20.30 @ Concorde 2)

Concorde is a bit of a stroll down along the beach but if you do make it there you are sure to be rewarded by the sound of 22 women dementedly shrieking “I’m a drunk” like banshees on recent Transgressive single ‘I Hear Flies’. Imagine if someone swapped The Polyphonic Spree’s happy pills with booze. They literally scare me, as a man.

Islet (Friday 14.30 @ Freebut)

Despite their reluctance to leave a digital footprint we have already witnessed the barely controlled tornado of Islet’s live show supporting Los Campesinos! this winter. With more instruments lying about the stage than at a surgeon’s theatre, and members swapping places and sharing vocal and drum duties, they come Very Recommended from us.

Let’s Buy Happiness (Thursday 19.45 @ Basement)

We were flagging by the time we got to L in the A-Z Of Bands To Check Out to be honest, but this one really perked us up. When wesaw the familiar influences on the MySpace page (The Shins, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and other NAIR stables), weweren’t expecting much. But then we heard Sarah Hall’s amazing vocal on ‘Works Better on Paper’, sounding a little like Liz Fraser, and the requisite Cocteau Twins backing  for it. Magical.

Rich Aucoin (Saturday 22.15 @Above Audio)

Beach Boy comparisons are probably fair game when you have a song called ‘Brian Wilson is A.L.i.V.E.’, and they are spot on as well. This Canadian wizard gave me a grin that hasn’t spread across my mouth since hearing Daft Punk’s ‘Discovery’ and Avalanches’ ‘Since I Left You’. That was in Spring 2001!?!

OTHERS

Although they clash with some of the above and may be a little more packed, you can’t go far wrong with Spectrals, These New Puritans, Wild Beasts, Summer Camp, Egyptian Hip Hop, Bo Ningen, Crocodiles, Chapel Club, Stricken City, Avi Buffalo, The Morning Benders, Alessi’s Ark, Class Actress, Here We Go Magic, The Phenomenal Hand Clap Band, Slow Club, Crystal Fighters and Ray Dar Vees.

See you there!